Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Sustaining a happy marriage, even for the poor, frequently means being intimate without childbearing, yet...

...across the USA in cities where it would be popular to victimize poor women there are decisions like this being made.


Women don't need the political backlash.  They need the freedom to handle the responsibilities of relationships and family.  Raising a family is not a political event.



County to reconsider family planning grant (click title to entry - thank you)



Published: Wednesday, March 14, 2012 at 5:05 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, March 14, 2012 at 5:05 p.m.


The New Hanover County Board of Commissioners at its April 2 meeting will reconsider the county Health Department's request to use state funding for family planning supplies, which suddenly turned controversial this week after the board refused the funds.
Chairman Ted Davis Jr., in an email sent Wednesday afternoon to county officials, instructed the county manager to schedule a discussion and public hearing about the health department's request on the agenda for the April 2 meeting, which begins at 6 p.m..
The board voted unanimously Monday to refuse $8,899 in state bonus funding for the health department, which planned to use the money to buy intrauterine devices (IUDs) – a form of birth control inserted directly into a woman's uterus.


It isn't as though less than $9000 is flooding the market in Wilmington, NC.  The devices are not inexpensive to purchase, but, they are far less expensive to use than 'the pill.' The IUD is another 'imagineering' abortion measure by the political Right Wing Political sect.  IUDs prevent implantation, so if abortion is defined as a lack of viable implantation, then tubal pregnancies are abortions, too.

The IUD (click here) is the most inexpensive long-term and reversible form of birth control you can get. Unlike other forms of birth control, the IUD only costs money in the beginning. The cost for the medical exam, the IUD, the insertion of the IUD, and follow-up visits to your health care provider can range from $500 to $1,000. That cost pays for protection that can last from 5 to 12 years, depending on which IUD you choose. In general, the Mirena IUD costs more than the ParaGard. 

From "The American Pregnancy Association:"

How effective is an intrauterine device? (click here)

The intrauterine system possesses a failure rate of less than 1%. This means that fewer than one out of every 100 IUD users will become pregnant during the first year of use. You should take a pregnancy test if you are experiencing any pregnancy symptoms.

Why is the rest of the world willing to do what should be done when the USA cannot?


Who’s Afraid of War Crimes Prosecution? – Cheney cancels Toronto speaking event (click title to entry - thank you)  


by James Corbett
GRTV.ca
March 16, 2012
Former US Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter, Elizabeth, have cancelled a planned speaking engagement at Toronto’s Metro Convention Centre next month, citing safety concerns. According to the president of the promotion company that booked Cheney for the April 24th speech, “He felt that in Canada the risk of violent protest was simply too high. They specifically referenced what happened in Vancouver.”
The reference is to a fierce protest of Cheney’s speech in British Columbia last September which necessitated the use of Vancouver riot police and kept Cheney locked inside the speaking venue for seven hours while crowds were dispersed.
Cheney is not the first credibly accused war criminal from the Bush Administration to cancel a speaking arrangement due to concerns about popular protest or even arrest.
In early 2011 former President George W. Bush was forced to cancel a trip to Switzerland to speak at a fundraiser for the United Israel Appeal after it was revealed that a number of human rights groups were planning to prosecute Bush for war crimes, including contravention of the Convention Against Torture to which the United States is a signatory....


Fortune Names Halliburton to ‘Most Admired’ List (click here)

In its March 19 issue, Fortune magazine will publish its annual World’s Most Admired Companies list for 2012. Halliburton is rated as fourth in the world for the “Oil and Gas Equipment, Services” sector.
Companies are evaluated based on innovation, people management, social responsibility and global competitiveness, among other attributes. The rankings are based on a survey of about 15,000 senior executives, outside directors and industry analysts.


It is a limited list. Halliburton is fourth on the Oil and Gas Equipment MOST ADMIRED. It is still 'most admired,' though. Does there have to be candidates with exploitative and shady operations on the list in the absence of any decent companies? 


There is little work Halliburton did in Iraq that was admired, yet alone most admired.  When is this self-stroking and hubris going to end with Wall Street. Moral is moral. Halliburton doesn't even come close. Maybe the MOST ADMIRED TRUTH about Wall Street is they are NOT moral!


Fortune's Most Admired Oil and Gas Equipment List (click here)

Brazil Chevron oil leak charges to focus on safety - Ya think? (click title to entry - thank you)

Chevron have already been fined $100m for November's oil spill 



(Picture Below) In this handout image released by Chevron on March 19, 2012, containment equipment is pictured in the Frade Field, in the waters of the Campos Basin in Rio de Janeiro state. A Brazilian prosecutor plans to allege this week that Chevron and Transocean should not have drilled a deep-water well that leaked in November, legal documents showed, giving a glimpse into expected criminal charges that could slow the rush to develop Brazil's vast offshore oil wealth. The allegations are part of police and prosecutors' reports being used to assemble criminal indictments against oil company Chevron, drill-rig operator Transocean, and 17 of their executives and employees.
Credit:Reuters/Chevron/Handout

When considering how reasonable these charges are to the crimes involved and reflecting on the blatant disregard of safety with the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion that caused the deaths of eleven people and the largest environmental disaster in US History.  If the Congress doesn't want to hold Tony Hayward responsible in a criminal court, then maybe Congress out to be held over in a criminal court!

RIO DE JANEIRO | Mon Mar 19, 2012 10:04pm EDT

(Reuters) - A Brazilian prosecutor plans to allege this week that Chevron and Transocean should not have drilled a deep-water well that leaked in November, legal documents showed, giving a glimpse into expected criminal charges that could slow the rush to develop Brazil's vast offshore oil wealth.

The accident cracked geological structures in the reservoir and oil will continue leaking from the field until it is emptied, the prosecutor Eduardo Santos de Oliveira told Reuters in a telephone interview on Monday.

The prosecutor's comments expanded on his investigations and police reports being used to assemble criminal indictments against U.S. oil company Chevron, drill-rig operator Transocean, and 17 of their executives and employees.

The documents, obtained by Reuters, provided the most detailed look yet at possible causes of the oil leak off Brazil's southern coast. They also outline why prosecutors are seeking criminal charges for what industry watchers note is a relatively small spill at a well that was approved for drilling by Brazilian regulators....


If the determination by the Brazilian government teaches the global community anything, it is that deep water drilling is not taken seriously, the expertise of the industry is lacking and there needs to be STANDARDIZED, INTERNATIONAL regulations adhered to in order to prevent collapse of the global fisheries.


The world is getting smaller and the ability to feed it CANNOT be altered any further by oil companies with complete disregard for human life over profits!


In an ocean environment one mile down, it has been proven there are no safe practices.  It is hideous to consider drilling in extreme environments is even reasonable.

The Ryan Plans have no moral content. They destroy the American Dream and Promises.

By Larry Cohen
04/29/11 08:48 AM ET 

...We can reduce the amount of money we need to spend on healthcare for seniors, and for everyone else, but penalizing our aging adults and raiding Medicare is not the way to do it. The fiscally responsible approach must include policies that keep people healthier now, in order to reduce the demand for medical care throughout their lives....


Does the nation WANT to see their healthcare dollars actually delivering health care?  Then there are ways of doing that or Americans allow "Death by Health Insurance Company?"

...That approach is prevention.
The Ryan plan doesn’t focus on any of the drivers of health costs, and it doesn’t make anyone less sick. Its magical thinking simply reduces the flow of money available for treatment and care, while failing to address the healthcare costs that will get passed along to families and businesses. This is detrimental to our nation and the deficit. If, instead, we reduce the number of people injured and ill in the first place, we won’t just save money. We will save lives....

Chronic diseases – such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes – are responsible for 7 out of 10 deaths among Americans each year. They account for 75% of the nation’s health spending. Focusing on prevention can both improve the health of Americans and help control health care spending. In fact, a report from Trust for America’s Health entitled Prevention for a Healthier America concluded that investing $1 in proven community-based programs could yield a return of $5.60....


Ryan's proposals are OLD and have no meaning anymore, but, they are stated over and over and over as if it matters.  The GOP have no ideas and no answers.  Any confusion about that?


Wellness Based Healthcare: Prevention, Intervention and Innovation for Chronic Disease (click here)
Published on 25 April 2010 

Creating a wellness-based healthcare system is the focus on a new series of articles published by American Health and Drug Benefits, a peer reviewed journal. They cover a wide spectrum of topics on how to build and support prevention and wellness, particularly for chronic conditions. The ideas and information are particularly timely given the array of prevention and wellness initiatives in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA):...

The snow that sublimed into water vapor is evident in the UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite of the North and West Hemisphere Today.

March 20. 2012
1030:00z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite of North and West Hemisphere (12 hour loop at title to entry - thank you)




Any confusion about this?


Tornado warning in Texas, water rescue call in Okla. as heavy rain rolls across central US (click here)


By Associated PressPublished: March 19


OKLAHOMA CITY — Heavy rain fell across parts of the nation’s midsection Monday, forcing at least one motorist stranded in high water to call for help, while others braced for storms that could bring hail and tornadoes over the next few days.
A tornado warning spanned part of Texas, and flood warnings stretched from southeast Texas north through western Missouri....

Ryan sees a nation in decline, I see a party in decline. Same ole, same ole ideology. No ideas. No answers.


March 19, 2010

1050 am est

The GOP Budget and America's Future

The president's budget gives more power to bureaucrats, takes more from taxpayers to fuel the expansion of government, and commits our nation to a future of debt and decline.



Less than a year ago, the House of Representatives passed a budget that took on our generation's greatest domestic challenge: reforming and modernizing government to prevent an explosion of debt from crippling our nation and robbing our children of their future.
Absent reform, government programs designed in the middle of the 20th century cannot fulfill their promises in the 21st century. It is a mathematical and demographic impossibility. And we said so.
We assumed there would be some who would distort for political gain our efforts to preserve programs like Medicare. Having been featured in an attack ad literally throwing an elderly woman off a cliff, I can confirm that those assumptions were on the mark....

Monday, March 19, 2012

Scalia could not get his facts straight about Bush v Gore in his appearance at Weslayan University.

...It was a long time ago, people forget…It was a 7-2 decision. It wasn’t even close,” he said.... (click title to entry - thank you)



Decision: 5 votes for Bush, 4 vote(s) against

There is a auditory record of the arguments at the link above.

Barack Obama targets offshore tax havens

By EAMON JAVERS
5/5/09 4:23 AM EDT 

With a stiff crackdown on offshore tax dodgers announced Monday, President Barack Obama is trying to stay one step ahead of populist outrage over Wall Street excesses, even as he scrounges for money to fund his extremely ambitious — and expensive — domestic agenda.
Just before the announcement, White House aides distributed statistics that were tailor-made to provoke outrage among Americans hardest hit by the economic downturn.
The White House pointed to a single building in the Cayman Islands that is the official address for more than 18,000 offshore corporations — few of which even have a physical presence on the islands.
The five-story building in the capital city of George Town is known as Ugland House, and it has been the target of withering scorn from American politicians for several years; Obama frequently mentioned it on the 2008 campaign trail....



There is probably why Romney is not an economic lightweight, certainly his offshore successes prove it.


Romney offshore accounts contain up to $32 million (click title to entry - thank you)


Updated 1/20/2012 4:46 PM 

WASHINGTON (AP) – Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney owns investments worth between $7 million and $32 million in offshore-based holdings, which are often used legitimately by private equity firms to attract foreign investors. Such offshore accounts also can enable wealthy investors to defer paying U.S. taxes on some assets, according to tax experts....


The Cayman Islands is not a USA Territory, so it isn't as though Romney's offshoring was to create jobs for Americans.



Romney wins in American Samoa (click here)

March 14, 2012|The Associated Press
Mitt Romney won the Republican caucus in American Samoa, picking up all nine delegates.
About 70 Republicans in the U.S. territory located 2,300 miles south of Hawaii met in caucus Tuesday. The six delegates selected at the meeting and three superdelegates to the Republican National Convention all said they would support Romney.
Falemao M. Pili, vice chairman of the local GOP and a delegate, says he believes Romney can fix the U.S. economy that extends to American Samoa. He says Romney can “turn this country around.’’

Brazil detains oil executives over legal evasions of responsibility, like lying. Why does this sound familiar, only Tony Hayward never risked detention.

Brazil Official: Chevron Offshore Oil Leak Is 'Much Bigger' Than The Company Says (click here)

November 18, 2011
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — An oil spill off Brazil's coast could be "much bigger" than earlier estimated, the Rio de Janeiro state environment minister said Friday, and Federal Police said that oil company Chevron drilled deeper than allowed.
Minister Carlos Minc didn't say how much oil has leaked from the site of a well owned by Chevron. The leak began Nov. 8 and some Brazilian officials say has not yet been contained.
The exact cause of the leak is not yet known, but a spokesman for Brazil's Federal Police, which has opened an investigation into the spill, said that Chevron "drilled about 500 meters (1,640 feet) farther than they were licensed to do."


I suppose drilling too deep was just one of those "Oops" moments.

Brazil Bars Chevron Executives From Leaving Over Spill (click title to entry - thank you)

Oil Spill Occurred In Deep Water Off Rio de Janeiro Coast In November

By Marilia Brocchetto and Maria P. White
Posted: 2:40 am CDT March 18, 2012
Updated: 5:15 am CDT March 18, 2012
A federal court in Brazil has issued an order barring 17 executives from U.S. oil giant Chevron and Transocean Ltd. from leaving the country while it mulls criminal charges against them for an oil spill last year.

Among the 17 who were ordered Saturday by a federal judge in Rio de Janeiro to give up their passports is an American: George Buck, the chief operating officer of Chevron's Brazil division.

Kurt Glaubitz, a Chevron spokeman, said the company has not received a formal notification of the order.

"Any legal decision will be abided by the company and its employees," he said. "We will defend the company and its employees."

The oil spill occurred in deep water off the coast of Rio de Janeiro in November.

The next month, Brazilian federal prosecutors filed a suit against Chevron and oil rig operator Transocean for 20 billion reais, about $11 billion....

Now, it is Brazil that has overestimated its capacity.  The only thing Brazil has done wrong is offer an opportunity for those completely competent oil executives to show off their high technology for safely drilling to the center of the Earth.

One has to know everything the petroleum industry does is magnificently safe through all their advanced technologies.

...Yet industry insiders believe California-based Chevron (click here) will win back its rights, barring the discovery of any criminal or gross negligence in its Frade field where the accident occurred. The fine is tiny compared to the company's $187 billion market value and it said on Friday it is interested in bidding on new concessions in Brazil. 

The more lasting legacy of the spill may be an awareness that Brazil has overestimated its capacity to exploit deep, technically challenging "subsalt" reserves and become the world's third- or fourth-biggest oil producer by 2020.

Chevron has admitted responsibility for the spill but experts say the mistake it made -- a misjudgment of reservoir pressure and rock strength hundreds of meters beneath the ocean floor -- partly reflects the huge difficulties of operating in such extreme conditions.

"This spill shows that there is much that we still don't know," said Segen Estefan, a professor of undersea engineering at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

"We have to recognize that we really don't fully understand the risks and need to do much more to not only make drilling safer but find ways to clean up spills. As you go deeper everything gets more difficult."

The Chevron accident follows a series of recent accidents on platforms owned by state-controlled oil firm Petrobras that have raised questions about Brazil's ability to cope with safety and environmental risks and cooled euphoria over the vast reserves that lie up to 7 km (4.4 miles) below the ocean surface....

The reason I find it admirable Brazil is willing to detain these executives is because the petroleum industry believes itself immune from such hurdles.  The USA has lost the capacity to sincerely make an impression on this industry as to how it cannot simply ignore laws and regulations.  The petroleum industry has no respect for government and now in Brazil they have finally met a government with resolve to let them know they are not more powerful or sovereign than the people of Brazil.

In the USA, the petroleum industry is viewed as the 'sweetheart' of the energy sector by Republican legislators whom seek to weaken USA laws at every turn to pander to these people.  Billions of $US are still provided in subsidies while alternative energies are neglected.  The corruption surrounding the petroleum industry is so prevalent in the USA that a single billionaire wants to lay a pipeline through the most important agricultural land in the world.  It is about time a nation is taking a stand with these people.  I thank Brazil for their tenacious resolve.

"Morning Papers" - It's Origins (click title to entry - thank you)

The Rooster
"Okeydoke"

"Good Night, Moon"

Waning Crescent


12.1% of Full


26.2 day old moon


Sunday, March 18, 2012

Sunday, March 18, 2012

The Mayan script has been a mystery for a long time. It proved to be more complicated then originally thought by most anthropologists.

If the Mayan found communicating this intricate, they would have developed complicated methods of mathematics.


I believe they could not or better said, they would not discern minor differences as inconsequential to record keeping.


In writing fractions the script of 2/3 is more exact than the decimal variety of 0.6666... or to round off 0.6667.  


It is my opinion the Mayan calender became so ungainly was due to the fact they did not accept the idea 2/3 was a greater accuracy than an infinite decimal.  Therefore, their record of time was far more intricate and accounted for minor differences that we have found to be burdensome to our science of Earth.  


I believe their thoughts regarding the science of Earth Time was very sophisticated, but, their written expression was burdened with too much detail in fear of missing vital information in a growing knowledge base.


We know December 21st is a pivotal time in the seasons of Earth. We also know there are some incredible events in Earth's history at that time of year.  The 21st of December is a dynamic time of Earth's orbit and it makes complete sense the Mayan's would find the time when Earth's orbit was accelerated to be nearing an 'end time.'  


And NO, I do believe the world is coming to an end.  I do believe the Mayans were NOT as accurate as we are.  They were burdened with too many decimals in their calculations and did not discern the level of error affiliated with these calculations.


If you don't understand that, I ain't gonna explain it to ya.  Sooner or later everyone without detailed knowledge has to accept and trust those with it.

This is just for fun. I doubt the Mayan's worried about Kepler's Third Rule.

December 23, 2004 ; 1459:03 UTC (click title to entry - thank you)


On December 26, 2004, (click here) the Great Sumatra-Andaman earthquake struck with an estimated magnitude of at least 9.1 and spawned tsunamis across the Indian Ocean that killed more than 225,000 people. Just three days earlier another great earthquake, with a magnitude of 8.1, struck Macquarie Ridge.
“But there was no tsunami because the plates were moving laterally past each other,” said Mosher. Tsunamis occur when seafloor rapidly moves up or down, setting large volumes of water in motion. “As the plate boundary evolves to more and more subduction with time we will get earthquakes with large vertical motion at Macquarie Ridge and with the potential for tsunamis.”

Felt throughout Tasmania, Australia and felt in Southland, West Coast and other parts of the South Island, New Zealand. 

Kepler's Second Law - Part 2 - An object is at its greatest velocity at the periapsis

An imaginary line joining a planet and the sun sweeps out an equal area of space in equal amounts of time.  (click title to entry - thank you)



There is an equality of understanding in Earth's orbit that 'area' of space between Sol and Earth in relation with its 'velocity' of travel is equal at all places of the orbit.


Don't lose sight of the fact the Mayans were able to discern an understanding of Earth's orbit without the benefit of advanced knowledge.  


How did they do that?


Any guesses?


How did any scientist before the time of telescopes discern the rotation of Earth?


By watching the movement of the stars in relation to time and Earth's reaction in the seasons of the year.  The Mayans would have been watching the stars pass by in relation to the sun rise and sun set and would find faster movement across the sky by constellations when Earth was closest to Sol.

December 20, 1946; 1919 UTC


Nankaido earthquake, 1946
On the heels of World War II, a magnitude 8.1 earthquake struck Nankaido, Japan, on Dec. 20, 1946. The earthquake was felt from Northern Honshu — Japan's largest island and home to about 100 million people — to the southernmost island of Kyushu. The quake killed 1,362 people.
This quake ruptured in the Nankai Trough, a subduction zone where one tectonic plate slides below another. Earthquakes have been rupturing here every 100 to 200 years since the 7th century.

Kepler's Second Law - Part 1



The sincerely fascinating interpretation of this video lies in the fact it begins with the same four ROCK planets around the sun illustrated in the crop circles in the UK.  One of the facts of sound theory is that scientists over time reflect the same dynamics in their descriptions of the science.

The Christmas Tsunami changed the rotation of Earth (click title to entry - thank you)

The close proximity of Earth to Sol at that point in its orbit creates unique powers between the two.  


...They also found the earthquake decreased the length of day by 2.68 microseconds. Physically this is like a spinning skater drawing arms closer to the body resulting in a faster spin. The quake also affected the Earth’s shape. They found Earth’s oblateness (flattening on the top and bulging at the equator) decreased by a small amount. It decreased about one part in 10 billion, continuing the trend of earthquakes making Earth less oblate....

Kepler's First LAW of Planetary Motion (click title to entry - thank you)


The Sun is not at the center of the ellipse, but is instead at one focus (generally there is nothing at the other focus of the ellipse). The planet then follows the ellipse in its orbit, which means that the Earth-Sun distance is constantly changing as the planet goes around its orbit. For purpose of illustration we have shown the orbit as rather eccentric; remember that the actual orbits are much less eccentric than this. 


Kepler's First Law is about the eccentricity of orbit.  


Large eccentricity.


Medium eccentricity.


Circle = 0 (zero) eccentricity.

December 24, 2004 The Christmas Tsunami

9.1 Magnitude earthquake resulting in a crustal displacement causing a devastating tsunami.


Tsunami aid 'went to the richest' (click here)
Last Updated: Saturday, 25 June, 2005, 02:48 GMT 03:48 UK
Six months after the Asian tsunami, a leading international charity says the poorest victims have benefited the least from the massive relief effort.
A survey by Oxfam found that aid had tended to go to businesses and landowners, exacerbating the divide between rich and poor.
The poor were likely to spend much longer in refugee camps where it is harder to find work or rebuild lives.
Oxfam has called for aid to go to the poorest and most marginalised.
They must not be left out of reconstruction efforts, the charity said....







By Kate McGeown 
BBC News
Chanida Chueratanakorn owns a beach-front restaurant in the beautiful Thai resort of Au Nang.Like many places on this stretch of the Andaman coastline, Au Nang - near the town of Krabi - was only slightly damaged by the tsunami.

But six months after the disaster, few tourists are coming back to the area, and Ms Chueratanakorn is finding it hard to make ends meet....



"We've considered closing, and maybe that might be the best option," she said. "But if tourists come and see everything shut up like a ghost town they'll never come back."
"It's a really difficult time for us. Usually we save enough money in the high season to carry us through the low season.
"But the tsunami happened at the beginning of the high season, so now we don't have any money to last us through this quieter period," she said.
Sophia Buranakul, project manager for a local non-profit foundation, said Ms Chueratanakorn's situation was a common one....

December 21 is Periapsis of Earth's Orbit

Periapsis is the point in Earth's orbit that is nearest to the Sun/Sol.


When Earth is in periapsis it is 147,098,291 km (91,402,640 mi) from our sun, Sol.